“We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:12–13
Paul doesn't open his teaching on leadership by listing qualifications for leaders. He starts somewhere unexpected: with the congregation's obligation toward those who lead them. Good leadership, it turns out, needs soil to grow in — and that soil is the respect and esteem of the people being led.
The original language is striking: Paul stacks up intensifiers to say, essentially, “esteem them very, very, very highly in love.” This isn't mere politeness or deference to a title — like soldiers saluting an insignia rather than the person wearing it. It's a call to genuinely regard those who lead, even imperfect and difficult ones, as worthy of real spiritual care because of the work God has called them to.
Scripture doesn't shy from the difficulty here. Daniel, a captive, addressed Nebuchadnezzar — his captor — with genuine care, even calling him father-like language as he delivered hard truths. A servant girl showed compassion toward the very general who had taken her captive. Esteeming leaders well, even difficult ones, has deep biblical precedent precisely because it isn't easy.
RESPOND: Think of a leader in your life — at work, at church, anywhere — whom you find it hard to esteem “very highly in love.” What would it look like to move past mere tolerance toward genuine regard?
Where do you currently relate to authority more like a soldier saluting an insignia (respecting the position only) than genuinely esteeming the person?
Identify one practical way you could show esteem — not flattery, but genuine care — for a leader in your life this week.
PRAYER: Lord, give me a heart that genuinely esteems the leaders You've placed over me, even the difficult ones, for the sake of their calling and Your purposes. Teach me to see past personality and policy to the spiritual work You've entrusted to them. In Jesus' name, amen.